Alberto Contador wins his second Paris-Nice

Alberto Contador managed to win his second Paris-Nice today, and by doing so he has equaled the record of most wins by a Spanish rider held by Miguel Induráin, who also rode to two triumphs on the mythic Promenade des Anglais. “Winning Paris-Nice means a lot to me, it’s an incredibly prestigious race and I’m especially happy with this victory,” said the leader of Astana.

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Alberto Contador finished Paris-Nice 2010 strengthened not only as a rider, but also as the leader of a team—Astana—which has passed the difficult test of this race, fraught with difficulties and by challenged by rivals in great form. After both of the first stage races of the year with Alberto, Astana has continued to prove that they are on the path to becoming the team Contador needs in the next Tour. Over all, as their leader said, “because all the riders are turning themselves inside out for me and are striving to do things well.”

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Contador has gotten the win after a week full of difficulties, after a crash and missing a split that put his place in the classification in jeopardy, a bit like what happened last year, although on this occasion he managed to surmount all the problems. “You learn from everything,” says Alberto. “Last year things were also difficult and, what’s more, my own strength faltered. This year has had a lot situations requiring decision-making and the tactics worked. Now, a year later, things are very different.”

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Despite missing out on another split because of the wind, Alberto isn’t especially worried about this type of stage. “That day I wasn’t in front, but it wasn’t due to not paying attention, because both my team and I were near the front all day. Of course these are important and difficult stages and you just have to pay close attention, that’s all there is to it.”

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Alberto said that Paris-Nice “is like a mini Tour de France, it’s complete madness that can’t be controlled by just one team. But when it comes to organizing and making decisions, I think it was a good rehearsal for the Tour.”

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Moreover, this second Paris-Nice, compared to the 2007 edition, has also been “extremely important, but it’s true that 2007 served to get everyone better acquainted with Alberto Contador. What’s important this time is that my legs responded and, when it comes time to animate the race, that gives me a lot of confidence for the future.”

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Alberto Contador also says that his method of planning is “to go to the races to fight for the GC, but even though I won the last two, I’m not obsessing over victories. Sometimes you can win, and sometimes you can’t.” Finally, he referred to the good work of his teammates, of whom he said that, on television, “you only see the last 40 or 50 kilometers, and you forget that they also worked very hard in the 150 kilometers before that. My team did a good job in this race, even though there were other interests from teams like Caisse and Euskaltel that were able to help us,” he concluded.